Conventional deformable mirrors employ a multiplicity of surface normal actuators each of which has to be individually bonded to a base and have its contact leads brought out to a connection area. This approach is highly labor intensive as it requires proper positioning, orientation alignment and mounting of each actuator. Further, the actuators are testable only individually before installation or after all have been installed. The result is an expensive and time-consuming effort with significant chances of misaligned and inoperable actuators.